Automobile bed construction



AUTOMOBILE BED CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 8. 1926 -=p Gain 5 29 52 i w, INVENTOR "li WWW 52 BY "M q- FQ E l U ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 21, 1928.

warren STATES PATENT oer-ice,

WILLIAIVI'WASHINGTON MGLEAN, 0F ELGIN, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMOBILE BED CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed. November 8, 1926. Serial No. 147,001

such as a touring car or tsedan may be con verted into a comfortable sleeping car with very little effort.

A further object is to provide a device of the type described in which the seats and the cushions may be utilized for making a bed, while the space underneath the bed may be utilized for'storing luggage or for other purposes. I

A further object is toprovide' a device of the type described in which the means for supporting the cushions to form the bed take up relatively little space, thereby obviating the necessity of adding to the Weight of the car, as is sometimesnecessary with devices of this type;

A further object is to provide an auto construction in'which comparatively little change is'necessary from the ordinary type of'fconstruction so that cars already manufactured may be readily adapted to the invention.

ther objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly'pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application, in which Figure 1 is a sectional view through a portion of a'car constructed according to my invention,

Figure 2 is a section along the line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a plan view of a strap,

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing the means for normally supportlng the seat back,

Figure 5 is a face viewvof a portion of the seat back showing the holding means,

Figure 6 is a view of an extension rod and its connection, a portion of the view being shown in section, Figure 7 is a view of another extension rod,

Figure 8 is a view of a modified form of the device.

Figure 9 is a detailed view partly in sec-' tion, showing a modified form of front cushion, and

seats may vary.

Figure 10 is a detailed view showing a means for supporting the endof one of the extension rods.

In carrying out my invention, I may make use of an automobile body having a bottom 1', a rear end portion 2, a foot board 3, and a dash 4. At 5 and 6 are shown supports for the front and rear seats, respectively.

Normally,'the front seat has a cushioned back portion 7 and a seat portion 8, while the rear seatis composed of a back portion 9 and a seat portion 10. It 1s essential to I the purposes of this invention that the back portion 9 of the rear seat, theseat portion 10, and the seat portion-8 of the front seat be removable. In the ordinary automobile, the seat portions 10 andS are of course removable. In order to; provide for the removal of the back 9 of the rear seat, I provide the back with a rear facing 11, which may be made of sheet metal and which is provided with openings 12; An integral tongue 13 extends 'into each opening, "as

shown in Figure 5} The back 2 of the body portion is preferably provided with strips 14, which may be of wood or any suitable material and which have U-shaped eyes 15 secured thereto, as shown in Figure 2. Nor-' mally, the bottom of the back 9 of the rear seat rests on the support 6, but the eyes '15 may be passed into theopenings 12 in the,

lining 11 and then the seat may be lowered so as to cause the tongues 18 to enter the eyes 15, thus retaining the back in'position'. This is an example of one means of retaining the removable seat back.

In order to support the cushions for the bed, I provide telescopic extension rods hav-" ing a portion 16 provided with a laterally extending hook 17, which may enter the eyes 15, as shown in Figure 2. The frontportion 18 of the rod is provided with a Z-shaped end 19 arranged to enter an. opening 20 in a'bracket 21, which is secured to the frame 2201' the front seat 8. The fact that the part 18 telescopes into the part 16 makes the rod available for cars in which the distance between the front and the rear In Figure 1 I have shown a construction in which the front seat portion 8 issuepended on rods like that shown at 23.. The

forward end of this rod, which is an extension rod, may be secured to the cowlQ, while the rear end is held by means of a strap 25 like that shown in Figure 3. This strap is provided with reinforced ends having openings 26. One of these openings receives the portion 18 of the rear rod, while the other receives an end of the front rod 23. It will be understood of course that there are two of the rear rods, one on each side, as shown in Figure 2, while there are also two rods similar to that shown at 28 together with the straps.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation there of may be readily understood. The rods being telescopic may be carried in any convenient place, and, when it is desired to make up the bed, the cushions 8 and 10 are removed'as well as the back 9, the rods are connected up as described, and the cushions are laid on the rods. In this form of the construction, it will be observed that the front cushion 8 is supported by means of the strap, and that the back cushion 7 of the front seat is not removable. The Z-shape'd end of the portion 18 of the rear rod prevents the strap from pulling the end of the 7 rod upwardly, while the bracket keeps it from going downwardly. The result is that the cushions are held in alignment with the top of the front seat and thus a b-ed is made atth-is height.

The spaceunderneath the supported cushions is available for luggage or for goods of any kind, and this is a very important reature. Usually in constructions of thiskind, this space is taken up with supports, thus preventing the use of this space as storage space.

In Figures 7 to 10 I have shown a modified form of the device. In this form the back 7 of the front seat is removable. Tothis ehd strips 22 and 22 are provided on the front of the frame 22. The strip 22 is providedwith an opening, intowhich a pin 27 carried by, a strip 28 may enter. This con-- nects the back of the front seat at the top, while the bottom rests on the support 6?, see Figure 8. In this form of the device the surface of the aligned cushions is substantially at the top of the frame portion 22. The latter is provided with a cross piece or cleat29, which may have an L shaped slot 30 therein arranged to receive the hook 31 ofthe frontrod 32. This provides means whereby the cushions may be placed together ahd' obviates the necessity of'the strap 25. In the ordinary car of course the hack 7 of the front seat'is not removable, and in that case the straps 25 are used for supporting the front rods whichsupport the seat member 8. I

In both cases, however, there are certain common features. The seat members 8 and '10, as well' asthe removable back are supported in alignment in such position that a substantial bed is made. In both cases'also the cushions are supported "by rods which are fastened securely and which form an amp'le support. The space underneath these rods is available for luggage. I r i The rods 'may' be readily removed and the cushions replaced in their respective places with a mini numof effort. i

The removable back 7* oft-he front seatmay also be used to form a portion ofthe bed inthose cases where the automobiles are of such a length as to permit it. i

I claim 5 .'.:.'u: 1. An automob le construction comprising a front seat, a back seat, removable seat cushions for the front and back seats, a removable back cushioh, rods disposed between the backs of the froiit and rear seats,

means on the front of the rear seat b ackv and 'th e rear of the front seat hack for reg movably retaining said rods, .a second set of rods removably secured at ohe end to the nearer the automobile, meansrorsapportcushions for the front and" back seats, a removable back cushion, rods disposed between the backs of the front and rear'seats,

means'on the front'of the rear seat back and the rear of the front seat back for r adyably retainingsaicl rods, a second set of rods removably secured at one end tothe front of. the automobile, and straps secured at: the

rear end of 'said'secoind' named'setof reds andarrangedtopass over and be supported" by the top of the front seat and besecured to the first named set of rods near the front ends thereof. g A g 3. In an automobile constructiomfa bbdy portion having a back, eyes secured to the; back, a removable back cushion having means arrangedto engage said eyes for securing the back in position, a froiit seatfback having eyes, extension rods having ends'arranged to engage the eyes on the frontseat back and the body back, a secondfset of'rods, means for connecting theseco'nd setof'rod's with the front of the body, removable straps for connecting the rear eads of said second set of rods with the first set,..'sai 'd straps being arranged to pass over and be supported by the topfof the front seat, and both sets of'rod's being adapted to receive and support said removable cushions. v

WILLIAM WASHINGTON McLHANI Q 

